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Case Reports
. 2025 Sep;21(3):1546-1550.
doi: 10.1007/s12024-024-00926-0. Epub 2024 Dec 5.

Penetrating skull stab

Claas Buschmann  1   2 , Johanna Preuß-Wössner  3   4 , Christoph Meißner  3   4
Affiliations
Case Reports

Penetrating skull stab

Claas Buschmann et al. Forensic Sci Med Pathol. 2025 Sep.

Abstract

Fatal skull stabs are rare. In the case reported here, a 28-year-old man sustained an isolated penetrating skull injury from a knife and died two days later. The bone shard with the stab puncture, which was neurosurgically removed before death, later allowed the reproducible exact assignment of the murder knife found at the scene to the stab as well as the estimation of the length of the intracranial stab channel. This, together with the findings of the formalin-fixed brain, allowed forensic reconstruction.

Keywords: Autopsy; Neuropathology; Penetrating injury; Sharp force.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Competing interests: None.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Murder knife
Fig. 2a
Fig. 2a
Bone shard with stab-induced impression fracture
Fig. 2b
Fig. 2b
Bone shard and corresponding skull
Fig. 3a
Fig. 3a
Parenchymal injury in the left cerebral hemisphere after formalin fixation
Fig. 3b
Fig. 3b
Stab channel with road-like tissue destruction of both hemispheres after formalin fixation
Fig. 4a
Fig. 4a
Extensive intracranial stab channel
Fig. 4b
Fig. 4b
Macerated bone shard with corresponding murder knife match exactly
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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